Tag: Brian Hartline

The Philadelphia Eagles have cut wide receiver DeSean Jackson and the Miami Dolphins are among the teams that could be interested.

Photo Courtesy of Wigstruck via Wikipedia

Bill Lazor was brought in as offensive coordinator because of the success of the Philadelphia Eagles offense last year and it would only make sense to bring in one of the leaders of that offense to shorten the learning curve.

The Miami Dolphins wide receiver corps are coming into the season pretty banged up and Mike Wallace did not demonstrate that he was worthy of being called a number one receiver.

Alright Dolphins fans, we’re in the midst of “rumor and speculation” season. So why not jump right into it. On Friday, Jimmy Graham was given the non-exclusive Franchise tag by the Saints. What that means is that Graham can shop his services to another NFL team, but the Saints would have an opportunity to match a contract offer by another team OR take back 2 first round picks.

Photo Courtesy of Jeffrey Beall via Wikipedia.com

I’m here to tell you today that the Dolphins should make an offer to Jimmy Graham…a big one…and give up the 2 first round picks if the Saints don’t match the offer. OH MY GOSH, 2 FIRST ROUND PICKS, ARE YOU CRAZY?!?! Listen, I don’t think the Dolphins will do this, but I think they should. They already missed on Graham once when they picked John Jerry 22 spots ahead of him in the 3rd round in 2010. They shouldn’t make the same mistake twice.

The 2014 Senior Bowl was played this weekend and during the week of practices that preceded the game, quite a few players stood out and climbed up in the rankings. Not all players entering the draft played in the Senior Bowl, some because of eligibility or injuries, and others just decided not to participate. The rankings will change yet again in the weeks following the game and in order to stay current with these, I will be monitoring some of the more significant changes as they happen. Today I will concentrate on late rounds wide receivers only.

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Miami enjoyed a healthy amount of receivers signings during the offseason last year, which included the most expensive WR signing of free agency, Mike Wallace. NFL analysts predicted Miami’s passing game would become its new found strength, as a result of these pricy off season moves. However, the Fins only ranked 20th in passing in the NFL.

The Miami Dolphins entered Sunday’s must win game against the Jets with a chance to reach the postseason for the first time in 5 years and the second time in the last decade. They had that chance despite playing an ugly, emotionless game against the Bills a week before. As I said in my Pitiful Picks (and all week), I expected the Dolphins to get the help they needed from the Bengals or Chargers. But my concern was if the Dolphins could take care of their own business, especially coming off of their bad loss to Chad Lewis and the Bills. As it turned out, the Dolphins got the help they were looking for in Cincinnati and San Diego, but they couldn’t help themselves. They choked. Again.

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This game started off pretty well for the Dolphins. After a scoreless first quarter, the Dolphins took an early 7-0 lead on a Tannehill pass to Mike Wallace. Little did we know, that was all the scoring our high powered offense would provide. A few possessions later, the Jets scored a game tying touchdown when Sheldon Richardson, a defensive lineman, ran it in from the 1 yard line. On the very next possession the Dolphins went 3 and out and gave the ball right back to the Jets. The Jets and their turnover prone quarterback marched 80 yards on 13 plays in just 2-1/2 minutes and scored another touchdown.

It all comes down to this Dolphins fans! The Dolphins embarrassing loss last week seems like a distant memory, doesn’t it? Thanks to a couple of games in other cities going there way last week, the Dolphins seem to have the best chance out of the 4 teams vying for the final playoff spot in the AFC. By now you know what the Dolphins need to earn the 6th seed; They need to win AND they need EITHER the Bengals to beat the Ravens OR the Chargers to beat the Chiefs. Pretty simple.

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Our final pitiful picks segment for the regular season will give you our thoughts on all of the biggest games that week 17 offers. We’re 38-33 on the season and looking to close out the regular season with another good week. 13 of the 16 games this week will have some impact on what the final playoff brackets will look like. I can’t think of a more exciting week 17 since I’ve been watching football. I mean, 2 games are for their division titles with the winner hosting a playoff game next week and the loser going home and missing the playoffs…..there are 4 teams fighting for the last spot in the AFC playoff race….The current top 2 seeds in the NFC could both drop from having playoff byes to having to travel on the road in the wild card round.

We all saw this coming, didn’t we Dolphins fans? I know I did and you can check my Twitter timeline if you don’t believe me. I hoped this Dolphins team was different. I hoped that this Dolphins team would avoid a big let down after a big win. But this Dolphins team looked just like every other Dolphins team we’ve watched for the last 10 years (except for 2008). The Dolphins, riding a 3 game winning streak and coming off of a huge win over the Patriots, with their playoff lives on the line, came out lifeless against the Bills on Sunday. In fact, if they hadn’t come out to the stadium at all, they would’ve scored the exact same number of points.

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To call this loss a disappointment is a disservice to previous disappointing losses. The Dolphins, as they usually do, got all of our hopes up, controlled their playoff lives for 1 week…..and then proceed to take a crap on our hopes and dreams. Happy Holidays folks! The Dolphins offensive line, which has looked good for the last few weeks, blocked as well as a roll of toilet paper would block a scud missile. The Dolphins running game? They were only going up against the 23rd ranked defense in the league. They totaled 14 yards on 12 carries. I’ve run further trying to elude a bumble bee.

The Miami Dolphins entered Sunday’s game, facing a crossroad. Would they wilt under the pressure of a huge game against the hated Patriots. Or would they rise to the challenge and make their presence known in the AFC playoff race? The story of this game followed the same script as many games we’ve witnessed this season. The Dolphins took a lead in the 4th quarter then watched the opponent march down the field for the go-ahead score.

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The Dolphins took a 17-13 lead with a touchdown early in the 4th quarter. But, of course, Tom Brady had an answer. Brady marched the Patriots down the field and led them to the go-ahead touchdown, taking a 20-17 lead. When the Dolphins got the ball back with just over 4 minutes left in the game, you had to think that the would play for a field goal to force overtime. But Ryan Tannehill and the offense had bigger plans.

The Miami Dolphins entered Sunday’s game in Pittsburgh with their playoff lives on the line. The Dolphins were welcomed in by a snowstorm and a Steelers team that had been playing better than than their 5-7 record. The Dolphins fell behind 7-0 early, but would rebound to take a 10-7 lead into halftime. Ryan Tannehill was playing his first game in the snow and it showed in the first half. He missed badly on a few passes and the offense looked out of sync. However, the Dolphins came out of halftime strong and would take a 17-7 lead early in the 3rd quarter.

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And then, things got ugly. The Steelers drove down the field and capped off by a 43 yard touchdown pass to Antonio Brown. On the very next series, with the game 17-14, Ryan Tannehill threw a pick-6 to Troy Polamalu. That gave the Steelers a 21-17 lead and it looked like this game was going in the direction of so many games this season. But the Dolphins responded immediately. They drove the field and with some big catches by Charles Clay and solid runs by Daniel Thomas (yes, Daniel Thomas), the Dolphins capped off their TD drive with a beautiful catch by Brian Hartline, tip-toeing in the end zone.

The Dolphins employed 13 different personnel groups throughout the game on Sunday and ran a total of 81 plays. In the first half, they ran 52 plays and had 34 passing plays and 18 running plays. In the second half, they ran 29 plays and had 13 passing plays and 16 running plays. As you can see, it was much more balanced in the last half of the game. For the game total, there were 47 passing plays and 34 running plays. Obviously, the Dolphins would like more overall balance throughout the entire game.

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Their two favorite formations were 4WR, 0TE, 1RB along with 3WR, 1TE, 1RB. Both formations were used 19 times each throughout the game. Their third favorite formation was 2WR, 2TE, 1RB, which was used 16 times throughout the game.

They ran the ball 15 times to the left, 12 times to the right, and 7 times up the middle. This shows balance between the left and right side, but seems that they don’t like to run it up the middle a whole lot.

The Miami Dolphins were facing what was essentially a playoff game on Sunday when they headed to the Meadowlands to take on the reeling Jets. The Dolphins responded and completely dominated the Jets from start to finish. Yes, the Dolphins bumbled their way through a frustrating first half, but still took a 6-0 lead into the half.

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At the half, the Dolphins had outgained the Jets 265 to 39, in terms of yardage. They also had 16 first downs in the first half, compared to 2 first downs by the Jets. They were dominating the game in every way, except for the scoreboard. After the half, the Dolphins came out and took control on the scoreboard, where it matters most. The Dolphins moved the ball all day against the Jets defense, through the air and on the ground.